May 31, 2019
Vidcast: https://youtu.be/KIZUEQ9_8YY
Children and adolescents with continuing obesity show significant stiffening of their arteries toward the end of their teen years. This is the frightening finding in a study of more than 3400 Swedish kids just published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal.
Childhood obesity and a high fat mass tends to foster high blood pressures, elevated lipid levels, and abnormal blood sugars. These parameters are associated with stiffening of key arteries that in turn risks later heart attacks, strokes, and death from cardiovascular disease.
The study has some good news though. Those children who were able to decrease their fat mass over their teen years did see a normalization of their arterial stiffness.
This study stresses the importance of weight control throughout life beginning during early childhood. We are now learning that baby fat isn’t cute and must quickly give way to a toned body in order to avoid dire cardiovascular consequences.
Frida Dangardt, Marietta Charakida, Georgios Georgiopoulos,etal. Association between fat mass through adolescence and arterial stiffness: a population-based study from The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 2019; DOI: 10.1016/S2352-4642(19)30105-1
#Obesity #arterialstiffening #hypertension #cholesterol #parenting